


Key To Your Heart

by tabbytabbytabby



Series: Buddie Bingo [13]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Confessions, Feelings Realization, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Oblivious Evan "Buck" Buckley, Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), keys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25678291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tabbytabbytabby/pseuds/tabbytabbytabby
Summary: When Buck and Eddie exchange keys to each others places, Buck doesn't think much of it. They're best friends. It just makes sense. It's not like it means anything else, or does it?
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buddie Bingo [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761487
Comments: 43
Kudos: 445





	Key To Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ILoveBuddie2020](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ILoveBuddie2020/gifts).



> For ILoveBuddie2020, who wanted Buck and Eddie exchanging house keys. Hope you like it! <3
> 
> Also, using this for the Free Space on Buddie Bingo.

Buck's leaning against the counter, nursing his beer when Eddie walks into the room. He tosses something in the air and Buck barely has enough time to put his beer down and then scramble to catch it. 

He examines the object in his hands with a frown. "What is this?"

"It's a key," Eddie tells him. 

"Yeah I can see that. But why are you giving me a key?"

"It's a key to my heart," Eddie replies dryly with a roll of his eyes. "It's a house key."

"Oh," Buck says, looking down at the key in his hands. It looks like any other key he's seen, but Buck can't explain why it feels differently. Maybe not physically but in a life-altering sense. It's ridiculous.

"You're here all the time," Eddie shrugs. "This will just make it easier."

That's a perfectly reasonable explanation. Practical. Buck watches Christopher so of course he should have a key. 

It only makes sense for Buck to hand Eddie a key to his apartment next time they're on shift. For emergencies, of course.

He catches Hen, Chim, and Bobby watching the exchange and frowns. Hen and Chim look away when they know they've been caught, but Bobby's eyes linger for a moment on the key Eddie is putting in his wallet. 

He doesn't say anything. At least not until they're alone. 

"So you gave Eddie a key to your place, huh?"

"Uh yeah," Buck says. "He gave me one to his a couple nights ago. We're at each other's places enough. It just makes sense."

"Uh huh. Are you sure that's all it is?"

"What else would it be?" Buck asks him, confused. 

Bobby just claps him on the shoulder before walking back towards the kitchen. “You’ll figure it out.”

Buck’s not sure exactly _what_ he’s supposed to be figuring out. They’re just keys, right? People give their friends keys all the time. It’s not until he’s talking to Maddie a few nights later that it hits him in the face just how different it is.

“So,” Maddie says, leaning back in her seat. She’s watching him closely, and Buck tries not to squirm under her gaze.

“What?”

“You and Eddie.”

“What about us?”

Maddie waves her hands in front of her, as if that offers up enough explanation. It doesn’t. Not one bit. “You two gave each other keys to your places.”

“Yeah, so? Why does everyone keep making a big deal about it?”

“Because it is a big deal, Evan,” Maddie says. “You don’t just hand out keys to anyone. And I know Eddie doesn’t. You both value your space too much. Except, it seems, when it comes to each other.”

Buck opens his mouth and then closes it, his lips pursing as he thinks. Maddie has a point. Eddie is the only one that has a key to his appointment, besides Maddie. And even she never uses it. But Eddie? He’s always letting himself into Buck’s place, and Buck does the same. They rarely even knock anymore, except to announce their arrival as they’re walking in. 

And Eddie… Buck knows he’s not just going around hanging out keys to his place. Carla has one, and Isabel, but not anyone else to his knowledge. 

It’s easy to say it’s because of Christopher, but the more Buck thinks about it, the more he realizes that’s not quite true. Most of the time anymore it’ll just be the two of them, either because Chris is asleep or someplace else for the night. One of them will show up at the other’s place with beers and pizza and it’s just them, hanging out and talking and…

Yeah sure there are times where their teasing takes a different tone, but Buck’s never really let himself think about it. It’s like an invisible line between them they’ve been toeing but neither has crossed. That’s just how he and Eddie are with each other. And god that does mean something, doesn’t it? Has Buck really been this blind?

“Evan?” Maddie says, her voice snapping Buck out of his thoughts. “You still with me?”

“I uhh… yeah,” Buck shakes his head, trying and failing to push away the image of Eddie’s smiling face. “No.”

“No?”

“No, I don’t know,” Buck sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I need to go.”

“Go?” Maddie questions. “This is your place.”

“I know, but I have someplace to be,” Buck tells her. He stands up and kisses her cheek quickly before moving towards the door. “You can stay as long as you want. Just lock up when you go.”

“Alright,” Maddie says, following him towards the door. She waits until Buck has walked out and has made it to the stairs before calling after him. “Tell Eddie I say hi!”

Buck’s steps falter, but he keeps going. He’s not sure why he’s surprised Maddie knows exactly where he’s going. She’s always been able to read him too well. He can hear her voice in his head telling him he’s also just that obvious. 

He doesn’t speed on the way to Eddie’s. Sure, he might drive a little faster than he normally would, but it’s all legal. Mostly. 

Eddie’s truck is parked outside when he gets there, and the lights are on in the living room and kitchen. Eddie’s here. Good. Buck hadn’t thought far enough ahead to think about what he would do if Eddie wasn’t here. Wait on the porch, maybe. Or use the key that’s not just a key to let himself in. He doesn’t know. 

Normally he’d let himself in, but he finds himself hesitating at the door. The key feels suddenly heavy in his hand. He looks down at it and bites his lip, before taking it off the keychain. A shadow passes in front of the living room window a few seconds before the front door opens. Eddie looks out at him with a raised eyebrow. “Did you forget your key?”

“No,” Buck says, moving past him into the house. “I didn’t. I just…”

“What?” Eddie asks. He walks around Buck into the kitchen, towards the fridge, and pulls out two beers. Like he always does. Like this is just another night. Buck puts the beer Eddie hands him aside. His stomachs in knots. He’s not sure he can handle it right now.

Buck tosses the key on the table between them, where it lands with a dull clank. “It’s not just a key.”

“It looks like a key,” Eddie says slowly, looking from the key to Buck, clearly confused. “It’s the one I gave you.”

“I _know_ ,” Buck says. “But it’s not just that, is it? It’s more than that.”

Eddie watches him for a moment, before he lets out a long breath and puts his beer down. Buck can’t keep his eyes off him as he walks closer, until he’s standing right in front of him. Their chests are pressed close and Buck feels like he can’t breathe. Especially not when Eddie’s hand comes up to his cheek, warm and solid. “No Buck, it’s not just a key.”

“No?”

“No, it’s not.”

“It never has been, has it?” Buck asks him.

“Maybe in the beginning,” Eddie says. “But I just wanted you to know that you always had a place here. It’s your home as much as mine and Christopher’s.”

The tension leaves Buck’s shoulders and he leans into Eddie, resting their heads together and just breathing. He can feel each puff of Eddie’s breath against his lips, and it’s drawing him in, towards that invisible line. The one that had seemed so daunting, but now it feels all too easy and right to cross it. 

So he kisses Eddie, just a soft, quick press of lips before he’s pulling back. His eyes move across Eddie’s face, gauging his reaction. One. Two. Three. Four. Five seconds pass before Eddie is putting a hand behind Buck’s neck and pulling him back in for another kiss.

He’s not sure how long they stand there, making out in Eddie’s kitchen. It could be minutes or hours. All Buck knows is that he doesn’t ever want to stop. Of course, they have to eventually when the need for air becomes too much.

“It really was the key to your heart,” Buck mumbles against his lips.

Eddie chuckles and digs his fingers into Buck’s sides, causing him to laugh and try and squirm away. But Eddie holds on, keeping him close. Buck can only marvel at how he just looks so _happy_. He looks beautiful like this, with a soft smile on his lips, which are red and kiss swollen. His eyes are crinkled at the corners, and Buck runs his fingers across the skin there, watching as Eddie’s eyes flutter closed. Yeah, there has never been anyone more beautiful than Eddie Diaz.

“It was,” Eddie says, his eyes blinking open and meeting Buck’s.

“Was what?”

“They key to my heart,” Eddie tells him.

Buck just has to kiss him again, putting every ounce of love and affection he feels for Eddie into the kiss, hoping he gets it. That he understands. From the way Eddie kisses him back, he’s sure that he does.


End file.
